Mohammadreza Ahmadi Tifakani went to the morgue and identified his two children. His seven-year-old daughter, Hanieh, was killed along with all her classmates when the first Tomahawk cruise missile struck her elementary school in Minab, Iran. His ten-year-old son, Sobhan, survived the initial explosion and ran back to look for his sister – only to be killed in the second blast.
“I personally went to the morgue and identified both of them,” Tifakani told the Guardian. “Sobhan was missing an eye, and half of his face was gone. His legs were broken. Hanieh’s skull was fractured but her face was intact. I recognised Sobhan at first glance, even though he was severely injured.”
“A father identified his two children killed in a US missile strike on an Iran school; investigation findings may be buried.”
The attack on the girls’ school was one of the US military’s deadliest civilian bombings in decades. At least 175 people, mostly children under 12, died on the first day of the war – what Donald Trump has called a “little excursion” into Iran. Nearly four months later, the Pentagon has produced no answers about why it fired a Tomahawk into a school. A secretive investigation has concluded, reports suggest, but critics fear the findings will be buried under classifications.
Trump initially suggested the attack was carried out by Iran. When it became clear the strike used a US-made Tomahawk, he claimed Iran also had access to the cruise missiles – which it does not. Last week, celebrating a ceasefire deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, Trump signalled he was ready to write it off as a mistake. “It’s such a strange question to be asked at this date, because you’re talking about a long time ago,” he told reporters at the G7 meeting in Évian-les-Bains, France. “But nobody did that on purpose.” He added: “Mistakes are made. The war is nasty.”
The bombing has become a test case for Pete Hegseth, the self-styled secretary of war, and his “warfighting” approach. In early March, nearly two weeks after the attack, Hegseth said: “Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it.” Officials have anonymously told media that the site was believed to be an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The US has signed a shaky memorandum of understanding on a ceasefire with Iran, but for Tifakani and other bereaved families, the question remains: will the Pentagon ever reveal the truth, or will it remain buried under classification?